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1950s Control Tactics Can’t Manage Today’s Freewheeling Senators
Mike Mansfield, master of a different Senate. James Wallner writes in the Federalist: “Healthy institutions require effective leadership. This is evident in the dysfunction surrounding the health-care debate in… Read More
Parties and the Challenges of Partisan Governance
Thomas Nast, “Third Term Trap,” 1874. Source: Harpweek.com. James Wallner writes at the Examiner: “It’s almost July and the Republican Party has yet to repeal Obamacare due to divisions… Read More
The Congressional Budget Office: “An Excellent Skunk at the Congressional Picnic”
At the Washington Post, Philip Joyce writes: “Trump’s Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), Mick Mulvaney, recently said that ‘the time of CBO has probably… Read More
The Downsides of Using Executive Agency Detailees
In a previous post, I recounted the advantages of using executive detailees as a means of combatting staffing shortages on Capitol Hill. In short, agency detailees can serve as… Read More
Lobbying and Congressional Capacity
Roll Call‘s Kate Ackley writes: “Demand has increased for former officials, including former lawmakers who are more likely to become lobbyists than in past decades, as congressional staff become… Read More
ICYMI: What CBO’s Score of the Health Insurance Bills Tells Us About the Budget Process
Yuval Levin writes at National Review: “The CBO is not politically biased. But its work is beset by challenges that run much deeper than that: They are structural, and… Read More
Want a Better Budget Process? Make It More Open and Deliberative
Source: Congressional Research Service. James Wallner writes at the Washington Examiner: “The budget process should be structured so that those interested in an outcome can freely participate in deliberations… Read More
Levin Center Convenes Scholars On Congressional Oversight
Source: Levin Center at Wayne State University Law School In an effort to analyze and improve congressional oversight, the Levin Center at Wayne State University Law School hosted 23 scholars… Read More
One More Bit of Good News About Congressional Capacity
Within the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2017, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) was authorized to establish senior level positions “to meet critical… Read More
ICYMI: The Washington Post Takes Up Congressional Capacity
Max Ehrenfreund writes: “With so much work to do, even a veteran lawmaker steeped in the details of public policy could struggle to keep it all straight. For the… Read More